St John’s Waterloo is hosting a new Exploring Spirit series, this time focusing on Mysticism as a way of discovering the sacred.

Mondays in November, 7pm – 8.15pm

Exploring Spirit is a series of talks and group discussion that allows an open exploration of faith and spirituality. This latest iteration – happening this November -focuses on Mysticism.

Mysticism is a tradition that centres on the direct, lived experience of God – moments of connection that go deeper than everyday awareness. At its heart is the recognition that God ultimately transcends human understanding and language yet can still be encountered in profound and meaningful ways in the everyday elements of life. Found within Christianity and many world religions, Mysticism explores how people encounter the sacred through stillness, reflection, music, sounds, movement, creativity, and the natural world.

Rather than focusing only on beliefs about God, this course invites you to explore a more personal and experiential approach to spirituality. It opens up questions like: What does it mean to sense something greater than ourselves? How might we encounter the sacred—something beyond words, yet deeply present within our lives?

Over four weeks, we’ll explore different mystical traditions within Christianity and other religions. Through input from our speakers and shared discussion, we’ll look at how people across time have sought connection with God through prayer, nature, and music.

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Running for four weeks on Monday evenings in November, 7pm – 8.15pm in the Old Crypt at St John’s Waterloo, SE1 8TY.

Exploring Spirit is free and each session is ‘stand alone’ so no worries if you can’t make all of them.

Book now.

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Week 1: Monday 2nd November | Introduction to Mysticism

With Rev Giles Goddard and Rhonwen Sayer

What does it mean to sense something greater than ourselves?

How might we encounter the sacred – something beyond words, yet deeply present within our lives?

Through the centuries, very many people have explored the life of the spirit. They have found different ways to talk about God. Some of them have become known as “mystics”, and their wisdom and writings are followed to this day.

At St John’s, we meet many people who are exploring what it means to be spiritual today. People who are looking for a deeper experience of God. People who are looking for the thing which makes them more deeply aware of their own humanity.

We are convinced that mystical experience is not reserved for religious professionals, for monks, nuns and priests. Everyone contains a spark of the divine, waiting to burst into a self-consuming holy fire.

Mystical experience happens everywhere – in the city and in the country. It was, and is, available for everyone who is willing to take the step of unsaying, unlearning, all that they think they know of God.

As Meister Eckhart said in the twelfth century – we are invited to become free of God so that we may see God. The spiritual path is unsettling, unfixed. The ground is not solid and the Rock of Ages is queasily unstable. Meister Eckhart speaks of ‘letting-go-ness’ – freeing, becoming free, releasing God from the box in which we have locked God.

This session will look at the rich tradition of mystics, from across religious traditions. We will learn from the Sufi tradition – especially the poet Rumi – from Buddhism, from Christianity. We will explore their words and practice, and spend time in silence together, exploring the spirit which is beyond spirit.

Week 2: Monday 9th November | Mysticism and Prayer

With Dr Shanon Shah and Polly Watt

If mystical prayer were a cake, what would the ingredients be?

What is mystical prayer? According to Mother Theresa, ‘Prayer is putting oneself in the hands of God, at His disposition, and listening to His words in the depth of our hearts.’ Or, as St John Vianney said, ‘Prayer is the inner bath of love into which the soul plunges itself.’

Sounds great, right? Except, the problem is, if we’re not experiencing such ecstasy or clear communication from God every time we pray, should we be worried we’re not doing it correctly? How, exactly, do we ‘hear’ God? Is there an instruction manual most of us missed out on somewhere, which the saints managed to find?

In this talk, Dr Shanon Shah and Polly Watt will discuss their own experiences of mystical prayer from a multi-faith perspective: when they’ve felt most connected with the divine, the elements of a prayer practice that can take you to those mystical heights and depths, and how this impacts their life in general. Though they can’t offer you a ready-made mystical cake mix, they’ll consider the various ingredients which often come together to make a rich experience of prayer. Expect them to touch on subjects as diverse as putting Lord Krishna to bed, the Desert Fathers, Transcendental Meditation, Sufism, near-death experiences and MRI scanners. And, of course, the Bible. 

Week 3: Monday 16th November | Mysticism and Nature

With Rev Paul Smedley and Rev Georgie Bell

What if the natural world is an invitation to wonder, meaning and the mystical?

In this session, we will explore our relationship with the more-than-human world. Francis of Assisi invites us to see ourselves as creatures among creatures—part of a larger family of life. How might this perspective change us, especially when so much of our daily life unfolds in cities? William Blake, a local Londoner, also offers a way into mystery. We will explore his fourfold vision, moving from a literal view of the world towards an expansive and interconnected imaginative reality. His invitation ‘to see a World in a grain of sand’, like Julian of Norwich’s vision of a ‘hazel nut, lying in the palm of my hand’, which ‘lasts and ever shall’, suggests that the ordinary and material can open onto something immeasurably larger.

Such mystical vision challenges us to resist seeing the world — and other people — simply in terms of what they can satisfy in us. Instead, the natural world can become a place in which we learn a different kind of attention: an attentiveness to diversity, interdependence and the cycles of life and death, as well as to our own place within them.

Together we will ask whether this kind of attention can itself become a spiritual practice. Through walking, looking, listening and simply allowing ourselves to be present, can we become more receptive to what lies beyond words, feelings and understanding? Perhaps mysticism is not primarily about extraordinary experiences, but about learning to pay attention ever more deeply — discovering, in Francis’s kinship with Brother Fire and in Blake’s altercation with a thistle, ways of encountering the sacred in the world already around us.

Week 4: Monday 23rd November | Mysticism and Music

With Daniel S. Evans and Rev Georgia Ashwell

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Breathe

A 45-minute meditation in the heart of the City.

Take 45 minutes to stop and to slow your mind, body and soul with our Breathe meditations. Running for four weeks in November on Monday evenings, 6pm – 6.45pm in the Old Crypt at St John’s Waterloo.

These meditations are for anyone with most of the time given to being in silence together.

Breathe is free and is available in person and online.

Sign up for free here.

Join via Zoom:

Topic: Breathe
Time: Nov 2, 2026 06:00 PM London
Every week on Mon, until Nov 23, 2026, 4 occurrence(s)
Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86323853218

Meeting ID: 863 2385 3218

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Meet the Exploring Spirit speakers:

Rev Giles Goddard

Canon Giles Goddard has been Vicar of St John’s since September 2009. 

He is closely involved in helping the Church of England to be more fully inclusive. He is Chair of Faith for the Climate which works to support interfaith work on climate change and is a member of the Church of England’s Environment Working Group. He has recently completed the Encounter course on spiritual direction. 

His second book, “Generous Faith – Creating Vibrant Christian Communities”, was published by Canterbury Press in 2024.  From the paradox of feeling both excluded and called to the priesthood, to becoming the only openly gay priest on the Living in Love and Faith co-ordinating group, this book reflects on thirty years’ experience of trying to make the church more inclusive. “Giles Goddard is searingly honest about himself: his early traumas, his coming to faith, his leaving of it, his finding it again and his sexuality. Who he is is part of what he does.” (Church Times, 16.8.24) 

In his work as priest of St John’s Waterloo, he has continued to push the boundaries of inclusion, offering a prayer space for the Muslim community, welcoming refugees, the street homeless, and Extinction Rebellion activism. He recently took part in a Nomad podcast with Halima Gossai Hussein. “In this conversation, they reflect on the faith they inherited, the shifts and struggles that reshaped it, and what it means to remain rooted while reimagining what faith can be. 

Rhonwen Sayer

Rhonwen Sayer combines Tibetan Buddhist practice with academic study of the tradition – she is an FPMT (the parent organisation of Jamyang Buddhist Centre) registered teacher and long-term student of the Centre’s previous resident teacher, Serme Khen Rinpoche Geshe Tashi Tsering, and of the current resident teacher, Geshe Tenzin Namdak. She has a Masters degree in Buddhist Studies from SOAS, University of London, specialising in Buddhist Tantra, and is a Fellow of the Royal Asiatic Society of the United Kingdom. Rhonwen is a member of the FPMT Translation Team and taught the “Introduction to Reading Classical Tibetan” class at Jamyang in 2022. She is currently engaged in translating the 29 chapter version of the Sutra of Golden Light for FPMT, to sit alongside the existing translation of the 21 chapter version. In the past, Rhonwen has been Jamyangs’s representative to Faiths Together in Lambeth and to the Standing Advisory Committee for Religious Education (SACRE) in Lambeth. 

Dr Shanon Shah

Dr Shanon Shah is a writer, academic scholar, and activist in the areas of religion, social justice and environmental justice. He is the director of Faith for the Climate, a UK-based network that facilitates justice-focused collaborations between people of all faiths on climate and nature. He is also a Visiting Research Fellow at the Department of Theology and Religious Studies, King’s College London, and Tutor in the Study of Islam at the University of London Worldwide’s Bachelor of Divinity Programme. Shanon conducts research on contemporary religious and political movements with the Information Network Focus on Religious Movements (INFORM), also based at the Department of Theology and Religious Studies, King’s College London. Before relocating to the UK, he was a multiple award-winning musician, playwright, and journalist in Malaysia.  

Polly Watt

Polly Watt is a congregation member at St John’s Waterloo. She first started meditating when she was six years old, having learned from her uncle, a teacher of Transcendental Meditation. She’s attended many meditation retreats, and will speak about the benefits of a regular meditation practice in her life. 

Rev Paul Smedley

Rev Georgie Bell

Georgie Bell has spent most of her working life in Christian ministry, including as a hospital and school chaplain, and as a teacher of pastoral theology to those preparing for ministry. Her interests include the ways in which spirituality, imagination and our experience of the natural world can open questions of meaning, wonder and transcendence. 

Daniel S. Evans

Daniel S. Evans (b. 1996, West Yorkshire) is a musician, teacher and researcher based in London. He currently performs with Shovel Dance Collective, Sullow, The Greater London Banjo Trio, Milkweed, Jennifer Walton, Meanders (in duo with Jasper Llewellyn), and in any combination of improvisers he is put in. 

Rev Georgia Ashwell

Rev Georgia Ashwell is associate priest at St John’s Waterloo she a Trustee of the charity, WATCH, Women and the Church, who campaign for equality for all genders in the Church of England. Georgia is host of the St John’s Podcast, Generous Faith, a podcast that celebrates the curious and questioning and explores life between the binaries.